Baby it's Cold Outside
by Snickety Lemon
Summary: Winter weather is the perfect excuse for getting together with people, especially when it's to keep warm! Gray takes a shivering Natsu out into the cold weather for a day on the town. Gray/Natsu, YAOI.


Baby It's Cold Outside

Winter had long since been entrenched in the town of Magnolia, the trees bare for over a month, the ground stiff and dry, the air crisp and the breezes bone-chilling. Many people in this bustling town enjoyed the cold weather and the occasional snowfall that accompanied it, and especially the holiday season that signaled the end of the year; but all of that, however, was over. The New Year had already begun, leaving only the cold weather in its place for another month and a half.

For some, the cold weather wasn't a bother; instead, it was an excuse to bundle up in warm jackets and get comfortable under thick blankets, drink hot chocolate, and enjoy the occasional snowfall that blanketed the city; for others, it was Hell—only cold, of course.

And in the wizard guild Fairy Tail, the one person who couldn't tolerate the cold whatsoever was the young Natsu Dragneel, a fire mage and dragon slayer, who sat shivering in the guild's main hall, clutching an empty mug.

"Mirajane," he said, his voice shaking, "can I have some more hot chocolate please?"

"Be careful, Natsu, you could get sick from all of this," she replied, filling his mug with the steaming hot beverage.

"I don't care," he hissed, taking another gulp. "Aahhh, it's so warm!"

"Natsu!" Lucy exclaimed, walking over to him, Gray beside her. "There you are!"

"Hey guys," he said slowly.

"Are you feeling okay?" Lucy asked, sitting down next to him.

"I'm just so cold!" he whined, taking another gulp of his hot chocolate. "I don't know how you guys can stand it."

"I just bundle up!" Lucy smiled, showing off her thick blue jacket.

"And I don't care," Gray smirked.

Natsu's jaw dropped when he turned to look at Gray. "What are you doing in your boxers when it's so cold outside? You wanna die?" Natsu exclaimed when he saw the nearly-nude ice mage standing next to him.

"No, I told you, I don't care about the cold. It doesn't bother me."

"But you could at least put on some clothes," Mirajane noted.

"Well, I hate the cold," the dragon slayer growled. "Anything and everything cold bothers me," he smirked up at Gray.

Gray scowled for a moment, about to lash out at his friend with a snide remark, but instead he simply began to dress and then sat down next to Natsu, smirking. "Well, you know, anything and everything hot doesn't really bother me," he smiled strangely at the boy next to him.

Natsu stared at him for a moment while Lucy looked on curiously, and then turned away, lowering his eyes.

"You saying you're tougher than me because you can take some heat?" Natsu sneered, hoping that by burying his face underneath his scarf he could hide his blushing face.

"No, I'm saying you should be able to keep yourself warm with all the fire burning inside of you, hot head," Gray smiled.

Natsu didn't respond. He simply took a long, slow chug of his hot chocolate, letting the heat radiate through his body, hoping that the silence was enough of a change of subject.

"Well, anyway," Lucy started, breaking the silence that had fallen over them, "I was wondering if you wanted to go out and do something today!" she exclaimed happily. "I want to really explore the city now that things have settled down a bit."

"Does it involve going outside?" Natsu asked.

"Well, yeah, of course."

"Then count me out," he snarled.

"Oh, come on Natsu," Gray said, patting Natsu heavily on the back, "don't be such a wuss."

"It…it's not that I'm a wuss, it's just that I'm…tired…and I don't want to go out anywhere." Natsu once again tried to hide his face, feeling it burn.

"Lies," Gray smirked. "Do you even own a coat?"

"N-no, I usually don't need one."

"Then you can borrow one of mine," Gray smirked. "Now c'mon, let's go," Gray said, standing up and grabbing Natsu's arm to pull him to his feet.

Usually, Natsu would be fighting Gray at this point for 1) being pushy and 2) calling him a wuss, but he really didn't feel like fighting with him, especially when he felt that ice mage's peculiarly warm skin against his as he dragged him out of the guild.

When the cold air hit Natsu's body, he began to shiver and complain.

"Dammit," he spat, "it's too cold out. I'm going back inside; you guys tell me how it went."

"Wait," Gray said, removing his coat and putting it around Natsu's shoulders. "I don't need it."

Natsu felt the warm coat fall over his body, the gleaming white fabric being pulled around his body as Gray fastened it. It was still slightly warm from Gray's own body heat, which surprised Natsu.

_How can this icicle be warm? Is that even possible?_

Natsu pulled his arms through the sleeves and then looked at Gray, who was smiling softly.

"Better?"

"Yeah," Natsu smiled weakly, trying to hide his red face. "Thanks, Gray."

"No problem. No stop whining and let's go," he said, grabbing Natsu's arm once again as he pulled him through the streets of Magnolia, being led by Lucy.

"What about Erza? Doesn't she want to come?" Natsu asked.

"She said she was busy with something, and given the serious look on her face, I didn't want to push her," Lucy grinned nervously.

"Besides, we can have fun, can't we?" Gray asked, turning towards his friend.

"Y-yeah, I guess," Natsu whispered. "So, where are we going?"

"Well, there's this jewelry store I wanted to check out, and I was hoping to find some place to get new shoes; these got ruined on our last mission."

"Really?" Natsu exclaimed, stopping in his tracks and pulling his arm from Gray's grasp. "Wha…why…_Really?" _

"Hey, chill," Gray said, smirking at his own pun, "I figured that you and I could go do something together. Trust me, I do _not _want to go shopping with her either," he said, whispering that last part in Natsu's ear. "But we want to meet up at the park downtown when we're done. There's some winter festival going on down there today, according to Levy."

"Oh…okay," Natsu said softly.

"All right, I'll see you guys at two o'clock," Lucy said, heading off down the street towards the shopping district, smiling and waving happily.

Gray and Natsu stood for a moment and waited until she left, standing awkwardly next to each other.

"So…what do you want to do?" Natsu asked.

"Anything you want to," Gray smiled.

Natsu smiled and then froze. "Wait, what?" he exclaimed, feeling that something was wrong. "Why are you acting like this? You've been friendly with me all day…almost too friendly. You've got some evil trick up your sleeve, don't you?'"

Laughing softly, Gray shook his head. "What, we can't act like friends every once and a while?" he smirked. "C'mon, let's just have fun."

"But _why?" _Natsu repeated.

"Because…because…dammit, because I want to, Natsu!" Gray yelled suddenly, causing Natsu to step back slightly. Gray sighed and placed his hand on his forehead. "I'm sick of fighting with you and being angry all of the time, so I just wanted to…I don't know...spend some time with you as a friend."

Natsu stared for a moment, somewhat taken aback by his sudden outburst. "Oh, I'm…sorry." Natsu's attitude changed instantly when he saw Gray's face—slightly sad and frustrated—and he put his arm around Gray and smiled his usual, wide-toothed grin. "Let's have fun, then!"

Gray smiled as his hand fell from his face, resisting the urge to embrace his friend and sighed to himself when Natsu's arms fell from his shoulders.

"So you'll do anything I want to do, right?" Natsu smirked.

"Yeah. I mean, depending on what it is. I'm not doing anything crazy just because you say you want to."

"Well, then, how about we just walk around downtown until we find something?" Natsu shrugged.

"Sounds good to me," Gray smiled, the two walking side-by-side into town.

* * *

><p>"I did it, Erza! They're all set up!" Lucy exclaimed as she opened the door to her apartment, Erza sitting on the couch, Happy curled up next to her enjoying his cat-nap.<p>

"Excellent. I'm so sick and tired of watching those two act the way they do; but are you sure this is going to work?"

"Yeah. Gray knows the plan and he'll make it work."

"Well, if you ask me, he should just take Natsu back to his house, strip him down, and…"

"Erza!" Lucy exclaimed, stopping her. "Who knew she was such a pervert…" Lucy said as she sat down on the couch next to Erza, sighing heavily. "Well, what do you want to do while we wait?"

"I think I'll just go back to reading," Erza smirked, pulling Lucy's manuscript from the coffee table drawer and flipping to the page she had marked.

"_Erza!"_

* * *

><p>Dark clouds had begun to move in, and the air smelled like snow. Gray stared up at the blanket of clouds covering the city and smiled, hoping that the snow would hurry up and fall.<p>

"Hey, Gray, where do _you_ want to go?" Natsu asked, unsatisfied with the small shop's collection of knick-knacks and toys. "We've been going to where I want to go, but what about you?"

Gray stopped and thought for a moment, Natsu coming up beside him. "Well, it's almost two, so you want to go ahead and go to the park?"

"Sure!" Natsu cheered happily, following Gray out of the store and down the road to the large park downtown; when they arrived, however, there was no festival to be found.

"Well, this is disappointing," Gray sighed. "I was hoping for a festival. I guess Levy got the date wrong."

"Damn," Natsu cursed, sitting down on one of the park benches. "Well, I guess we could just hang out here for a while, if you want. We should at least wait for Lucy, too."

"Uh, yeah… We wouldn't want to leave her behind," Gray smirked, knowing that she would never come.

"C'mon!" Natsu said, patting the empty space next to him. "Sit next to me!"

Gray smiled and took a seat, surprised when he felt Natsu embrace him and bury his face in his shoulder.

"N-Natsu?" Gray asked, blushing wildly.

"Thank you, Gray. I didn't know that you were such a kind person."

"You're welcome," Gray said, putting his arm around Natsu's shoulder as he regained is composure.

"I'm also…sorry…"

"For what?"

"For always fighting with you," Natsu said softly, pulling Gray closer. "The truth is, I think you're a great person, and I'm…I don't want to fight with you anymore."

"Natsu," Gray whispered, putting his other arm around Natsu. "Hey, are you cold?"

"Not anymore," Natsu replied, looking up at Gray. "I haven't thought about it since you gave me your coat, actually."

Gray looked up at the clouds, smiling to himself. "I'm glad," he whispered. _Please, start snowing!_

Natsu sat up and leaned against Gray, clasping his hand in his. Looking over to him, Gray squeezed Natsu's hand in his own.

"This has been a great day," Gray said softly. Glancing around the park, he realized that they were the only ones there, and he knew he had to take this opportunity or else he would lose it. His heart beating faster, his breath slightly fast, Gray opened his mouth to speak. "Natsu, I just want to tell you that…"

"I love you!" Natsu exclaimed, nuzzling into the side of Gray's body.

"R-really?" Gray stammered, shocked at being cut off and even beaten to the point.

"Yeah. I do," Natsu smiled. Gray, unable to hold back anymore, leaned in to kiss him passionately on the lips, placing his hand on the side of Natsu's face. Natsu broke the kiss and looked sternly into Gray's eyes. "Don't you breathe a word of this to anyone, though; understand?"

Gray laughed softly and nodded. "But, I should tell you something: Lucy was kinda the one who set this up, and Erza is in on it too."

"Set…up?" Natsu asked confusedly.

"Yeah," Gray laughed. "They knew that I liked you, and so they came up with this plan."

Natsu was speechless for a moment and simply stared back at Gray. His face suddenly burned a bright red and he buried it in Gray's shoulder.

"They won't tell anyone, will they?" he murmured, his voice muffled by Gray's shirt.

"No, they said they wouldn't, and I trust them."

"Okay," Natsu said softly. Closing his eyes, he leaned back into Gray's chest and savored the warmth he was feeling as Gray wrapped his arm around him.

For several minutes, the two boys sat like that, in silence, intertwined, when all of the sudden, snowflakes began to fall lazily to the ground.

"Hey, Natsu, look at this!" Gray said, stirring the boy beneath him. "It's starting to snow!" _About time!_

"Really?" he said, looking up. The snow began to fall faster, the wet snowflakes settling on the ground around them, their visions filled with the white powder as it sifted through the cold trees in the park.

"Wow," Gray whispered. I haven't seen it snow like this in years. Usually it's something light, but this looks like it could be quite a bit!"

"It's...beautiful," Natsu said. "It reminds me of you," he added, tuning his head to look at Gray who smiled and kissed him on his forehead.

"C'mon, Lucy and Erza are waiting for us at Lucy's apartment. We can walk back in the snow."

"Okay," Natsu said, slightly embarrassed at the thought of returning to their stares and comments. Standing up, a sharp cold stabbed his body where Gray once kept him warm. They made their way slowly to Lucy's home, the snow falling heavily, starting to cover the ground and settling on the rooftops. Reaching the entrance to the home, they opened the door slowly, Gray's arm wrapped around Natsu's shoulders.

"We're back," Gray announced, stepping into the warm room where Lucy and Erza were talking on the sofa.

The two girls looked up, Lucy awing at the new couple as they walked inside.

"I take it everything went well?" Erza smirked.

"Yeah," Natsu said, walking over to her. Grabbing her collar, she scowled at her. "If you ever tell anyone about this," he grunted, "you'll…not be very happy about it…" he said, cowering under Erza's strengthening gaze.

Her expression changed as she embraced the fire mage. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

"And now you can tell Juvia that you're seeing someone!" Lucy chimed in, elbowing Gray in the side.

"And if she found out who it was, we'd have to have a funeral," Gray smirked. "But anyway, I do want to thank you guys for this," Gray said, looking at Lucy and Erza.

"Yeah, I guess I should thank you, too," Natsu spat, going back over to Gray, trying to show an attitude to hide his embarrassment; when Gray wrapped his arm around Natsu's shoulders once again, however, he couldn't help but melt and relax.

"Well, I think we're going to head back to my place now," Gray said, guiding Natsu towards the door.

"Why?" all three asked simultaneously, but Gray didn't respond; he simply smirked and pulled Natsu with him, heading out the door.

"I think I know what he's going to do," Erza smirked as the door shut. "He's going to take Natsu back to his apartment, strip him down, and…"

"Erza, stop!" Lucy exclaimed, her face a bright red. "Please, keep those sorts of things in your mind!"


End file.
